


When You Came Around

by aastarlightt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Guitarist Sirius Black, M/M, Original Character(s), POV Sirius Black, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:40:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28793319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aastarlightt/pseuds/aastarlightt
Summary: A Marauders band AU, where Sirius sees a guy in the crowd while singing Semisonic's "Secret Smile" and is intrigued.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	1. Everybody Wants Me

He put his black combat boot on the stage with the other one still standing on the lower ground of the bar.

“Hey, pretty,” he leaned forward and a gorgeous black haired girl kissed him.

“Mm… Sirius, always so athletic, huh?”

“I do a half split and you call me athletic? Wait until…”

“Do you really have to?!” a smaller blonde shouted having just walked on the stage. She pushed her curly hair from one shoulder to the other and sighed. “Mary, do you know when the van’s going to be here? My cymbals are there and I need to practise that part in “Secret Smile” one last time before the show…”

“Yeah, you should get that right at least once, Marls.”

“Sirius!” Mary slapped his arm. “She’s doing great! Yes, dear, Henry is already on his way, don’t worry.” She smiled warmly at Marlene and went back to the chair with a microphone in front of it.

Sirius hopped onto the stage and walked to the place where his electric guitar was placed inside a black case, slapping Mary’s ass and winking as she rolled her big brown eyes. Marlene groaned and sat down on the ground. She took a sandwich out of her small backpack and began eating.

“God, it’s so good, Mary, how can you not eat chicken?!” she called from her place on the floor chewing loudly just to annoy the other girl.

“Is it wrong not wanting to eat something that’s been alive?” Mary looked at her seemingly angry, but they all knew that she didn’t mind the comments. “I don’t endorse animal cruelty, that’s all, you could at least try to not eat meat for a couple of days and I can guarantee you will feel the difference!”

“Yeah, I will miss my chicken sandwiches, that’ll be the difference.”

Mary rolled her eyes again.

Marlene swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and got up quickly to run and hug Mary from behind. “Maaaaaary, okay! Okay, I will try it! Just for you! You know why?” Marlene asked.

Mary nodded, “You love me, that’s why.”

“Exactly,” and she kissed the other girl’s cheek. “I loooove youuuu, Maaaaary,” she sang.

“Hello, ladies, Sirius,” a middle-aged man said walking into the open bar. He shook hands with the barman and walked over to the stage, where the three musicians stood. “James is outside, loading things out of the van, go help him, boy.”

“I stopped being a boy at fifteen, Henry,” it wasn’t necessarily true, but Henry didn’t need to know that. He didn’t need to know anything about Sirius. He put his guitar back in the case, closing it properly, and got off the stage, walking straight and not minding that he bumped into Henry’s shoulder on his way out of the bar and into the hot summer afternoon air.

“James!” Sirius exclaimed seeing his best friend carrying a large amp and putting it on the sidewalk. James smiled widely and hugged Sirius in return. “I’m glad you’re back! Where’s Lily?”

“She’s at home,” James ran a hand through his dark hair smiling sheepishly. “Mm… yeah, home.”

“Home? At ours, right? Wait, what do you mean “home”? Is she in Brighton? Why?” Sirius asked not really understanding, why James’ girlfriend wasn’t in London. “You guys are not fighting, right?” he asked warily.

“No, of course not! The thing is… I have good news!” James’ smile widened even more. “We bought a flat! I told you some time ago that we planned to move in together soon and there was a great deal my father found a few days ago, when we were still at theirs, so I didn’t have time to tell you.” With a look at Sirius, James added, “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, I thought you’ll be happy to hear…”

“No! I’m happy! So happy, sorry, I thought that when you said you and Lily wanted to live together, you meant she would live with us.” Sirius then added, “In our flat.”

“Yeah, well, no, I know, but… Look, we have a spare bedroom there and I thought you’d like something different,” James tried, but Sirius shook his head.

“James, you and Lily have to have your own space, I get it, don’t worry,” he thought for a few seconds. “I’ll get a roommate!”

“That’s not a bad idea, Pads. Not a girl though, I don’t want you to be a dad just yet,” he said it with a laugh, but something in James’ expression told Sirius that he was only half-joking.

“And I thought about asking Mary,” Sirius said kicking a small rock from the cracked pavement with his heavy boot.

“Are you that serious?”

“Yes, I’m Sirius,” he laughed, but then added, “No, of course not, we’re just fucking around, you know I don’t do that relationship crap.”

“You will find someone, Padfoot. Someone always comes along and swipes you off your feet, when you least expect it,” James had a dreamy expression.

Sirius kicked another stone, which scraped the toecap of one of his precious boots. He cursed and looked at his friend, “James, you have Lily and I love you both, but I’m really not about to be chained to one person, when I want to fuck at least ten others at the same time, do you really think there is someone out there, who can make me want to get married? God, make kids?!” He shook his head as if the thought alone was disgusting. “No.”

James put his hands up in surrender. “I’m sure you know better, mate,” he said, but didn’t look convinced. In James’ mind everyone had to have a soulmate out there. He was together with Lily since 10th grade and they were the only couple Sirius truly admired. They loved each other like no one else did. It wasn’t that he was completely against being in a relationship. He could be in one, he was sure, but he was also certain that he would most likely hurt the other person in the first couple of weeks of them being together.

Sirius shrugged and playfully pushed James’ shoulder with his own, then took the heavy amp in his hands to carry it inside.

“All right boys?” Marlene’s voice chimed from the far corner of the bar’s main room, where the stage was. “My cymbals! Thanks a lot, James, you saved us from being rhythmically unsatisfactory,” she said the last two words with an important expression on her face.

“Rhythmically unsatisfactory? Big words, Marls, where did you hear that?”

“I’m not stupid, Black,” she stuck out her tongue, while Sirius and James put the equipment on the stage.

“That is a weird word combination though, not gonna lie,” Mary remarked still sitting on the high chair in the front.

Sirius laughed and took out his guitar to tune it before the rehearsal. His Gibson 1968 Les Paul Custom was his pride and joy. Its ebony finish glistened in the yellowy stage lights and Sirius ran his fingers along one side of its body admiring.

“If that right there was a real girl, Black would be a married man with three kids living in the suburbs,” Marlene laughed looking at how Sirius was holding his dearest possession with gentle, but firm arms. The rest of the band snickered as well, but Sirius just shook his head.

“At least I love something other than chicken sandwiches,” he muttered and James laughed standing beside him and trying to put up a synthesizer.

* * *

Sirius winked at a curvy blond girl standing right in front of the stage. She had been smiling at him for two songs straight and he already fantasized about big thighs and soft brown skin against his own.

That always happened. Girls became obsessed with “Marauders”, their band, then decided they enjoyed Sirius’ stage presence, slept with him once, and bought tickets for their next show. It was some kind of sick marketing strategy, Marlene had said, but Sirius rather enjoyed the attention. He was okay with sleeping with them, more than okay actually, but he would never go further than having sex with the same person more than twice. That was his limit, he never wanted to get attached.

He had been attached once. _Never again_ , he reminded himself, _never_. He played the familiar riff and the music blasted from the amplifier nearby. Mary’s voice was filling the whole room and the crowd was bouncing on their feet, a few shouting along the lyrics they all knew by heart.

“Secret Smile” was the next song and Mary looked at Marlene behind the drum set and smiled. Marlene smiled back and set the rhythm. She didn’t mess up at any point and the heavier version of Semisonic’s song was officially the last one of their covers for the night.

Sirius took a few steps forward and stood next to Mary, looking at the crowd of people dressed mostly in dark or muted colour and started his verse.

_Nobody knows it but you've got a secret smile_

_And you use it only for me_

_Nobody knows it but you've got a secret smile_

_And you use it only for me_

_So save me I'm waiting_

_I'm needing, hear me pleading_

_And soothe me, improve me_

_I'm grieving, I'm barely believing now, now_

Sirius smiled sadly to match the lyrics, glanced at the crowd. There was someone standing at the edge of the stage, leaning against a wall. Sirius made eye contact with him and continued singing.

_When you are flying around and around the world_

_And I'm lying and lonely_

_I know there's something sacred and free reserved_

_And received by me only_

Mary then took the mic from him and Sirius stood beside her playing, from time to time looking at the man in the crowd. He had messy light brown hair, but he wasn’t sure with the dim lights in the bar, it might as well be blond. He was wearing loose trousers and an oversized t-shirt – the typical hipster look of those who usually listened to the band. The man was looking at Mary now.

_Nobody knows it, nobody knows it, nobody knows it_

_But you've got a secret_

_Nobody knows it, nobody knows it..._

There were ovations from the crowd and Sirius smiled widely. They always loved to cover beautiful sad songs making them even heavier. The people who listened loved that just as much, if not more. Mary bowed and shouted a “thank you” to everyone and they started clearing off the stage.

Someone tapped Sirius’ shoulder. It was the blond girl.

“Hey there,” she said sweetly. “I’m Amy. You were really good there. With your guitar and all that.”

“Thanks,” Sirius replied with a smirk. He noticed that the big t-shirt guy was standing just below the stage and talking to Mary, who was leaning down with her hands on her knees.

“… in a few guitar classes,” the girl was saying, but Sirius hadn’t heard the beginning. “Can I show you?”

“Show me what?”

The girl laughed a bit too loudly, “A few chords I learned, I’m taking guitar lessons.”

“Do you have a guitar?”

“Not with me now, but… I could use yours, maybe?” she smiled again.

Sirius moved to stand a bit more in front of his Gibson it as if protecting a child, “Mm… no.” The girl looked a bit disappointed at that, but didn’t lose her energy.

“Well, then give me your number and I can show you my own,” she said flirtatiously and Sirius smirked. She pulled out a violet marker from her purse and extended her arm.

Sirius pulled the cap off the marker with his teeth and quickly scribbled his number on the lighter skin of her wrist. Amy smiled again. Sirius closed his guitar case, took it in one hand, winked at her and went backstage, where there was a small room with one green velvet couch and two mirrors. Marlene was putting her hair up in a bun in front of one of them.

“Hey, Marls, the last one was great,” Sirius started and then added, “you didn’t fuck up!”

“Thanks, Black,” she said with a hairpin in her mouth, “I guess.”

“You know who's that guy? With Mary?” Sirius asked.

“What? Jealous?” She returned with a smug smile on her lips.

Sirius laughed, “No, but I don’t want her to catch something from him tonight.”

“Aw, Sirius Black cares about someone other than himself,” she teased.

“Hey! He cares about me!” James came into the room and slung an arm on Sirius’ shoulders, who was now sitting on the couch.

Sirius kissed his cheek, “My one true love is James Potter.”

“I’ll tell Lily,” Mary added finally walking into the small room.

“As if she doesn’t already know,” Sirius responded coming to sit on James’ lap.

“Sirius wants to know who that guy was. I didn’t see it, but you were apparently talking to someone out there,” Marlene asked Mary and Sirius listened carefully hoping his body language didn’t show it. He pulled out his phone from the pocket of his black ripped jeans and opened their Instagram. He liked a couple of new tagged posts from their band’s profile and started looking at other pictures that were tagged with the location of the bar. Big t-shirt guy wasn’t in any of them.

“Oh, I forgot his name, mm… Remus? Yeah, I think that was it. A bit weird, but, anyway, I gave him my number,” she smiled a little at that and looked at Sirius, who was trying to not look interested in the slightest.

Marlene looked at Sirius and then Mary, who just shrugged. Sirius got up and stretched, “I’ll go for a cig.”

“I just had one, you go, we’ll get the equipment to the van,” Marlene said from her place before the mirror.

Sirius walked out of the bar through the back door which was in the little chamber between the stage and the room behind it. It was already quite late. 11:52pm read the big white numbers on his phone screen. He pulled a cigarette out of the little pack and searched for a lighter in his jeans, but couldn’t find one. _Marlene_ , he thought and was already turning around to go back inside and ask her, when there was a voice next to him, “Need a light?”

He turned around and was met with a dirty-blond haired young man. He had a lit cigarette in one hand and the other was stretched out to offer him a yellow lighter. Sirius took it, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” the guy, whose name was probably Remus, if Mary remembered correctly, said.

Sirius huffed out a small cloud of smoke and gave Remus back his lighter. He took it and put it back inside the pocket of his wide trousers. Sirius could now see that they were corduroy. _Typical_ , he thought and almost rolled his eyes. That’s when the guy asked, “Do you sleep with Mary?”

“Yes,” Sirius replied.

“Right.”

“Why?”

“I thought you were gay,” he said and put out his cigarette against the wall. Then he simply started walking away, leaving Sirius dumbfounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this idea for a while, but @itslevih0esa gave me the last push to do it, so here I go. :)  
> I'm not planning to make it long, but we'll see.


	2. Call Me

Mary relaxed against Sirius’ shoulder, her naked body snug against his hot skin. A bead of sweat trickled down Sirius’ neck.

“This was the second time, right?”

“If you count it like that then it was at least three times, Black,” Mary responded sounding a bit out of breath, but there was a small smile playing on her red lips.

“Your lipstick’s smudged.”

“That’s your fault.”

“I know that,” Sirius leaned in and kissed her again. “Mm… this is the last time, use me to your advantage.”

“Make me coffee then,” Mary said and pushed Sirius out of bed. He stood up and walked to the kitchen without putting anything on.

“One sugar and a lot of milk, please,” Mary’s voice sounded from the bedroom, when Sirius pushed a few buttons on the coffee maker.

Sirius had taken Mary home last night. Before that he had stood outside the back door of the bar for a few minutes contemplating if he should go after the mysterious ‘Remus’ guy, but decided against it. He had called him ‘gay’. Well, not that it wasn’t true, Sirius was okay with sleeping with anyone, but the thing was - he was left with so many questions and none of them had logical answers, because why would someone even want to assume his sexuality? That was none of Remus’ concern. _Was he flirting?_

Mary was good in bed and gave the best head, and, most importantly, wasn’t looking for a relationship. They could have sex and not talk about anything regarding feelings and all the other shit that people in relationships where supposed to talk about. Friends with benefits without any expectations. That was a perfect arrangement.

Sirius’ phone dinged. He had left it on the kitchen counter last night. There was a message from an unknown number.

**Hello! It’s Amy from the concert. Do you maybe want to get coffee sometime?**

Sirius groaned.

“You sound like someone has put a red sock in your white laundry. What’s up?” Mary came into the kitchen and grabbed her cup of coffee. “Oh, this is nice,” she said taking a sip.

“Some girl wants me to get coffee with her,” Sirius answered still looking at his phone. There were no new pictures from last night’s concert on Instagram, at least not in the tagged posts. Maybe he should try searching if any of his bandmates were tagged…

“Sirius!”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you not listening?” Mary tried to look at his phone, but he quickly locked it and put it back on the counter.

“Remind me, when do we have the auditions?” Sirius tried to change the subject.

Mary sighed, “Wednesday at five.”

“Oh, yeah, right, I’ll remember that.”

“No, you won’t,” she laughed a little. “Yes, I’ll remind you, Black, jeez.”

Sirius finished making his cup of tea and looked up, “Have a lot of people applied?”

“Don’t know, some might’ve talked to James and Marls, but there are four who have asked me about the audition, but they were quite a bit younger, maybe except one. Three high school kids and that Remus guy I told Marlene about.”

Sirius piped up at that and a little bit of his black tea spilled from the cup. “Fuck me,” Sirius muttered as he sat the cup down and Mary snickered.

“Already did.”

“Very funny.”

“You should’ve put some clothes on,” she said. “I don’t mind your dick hanging around, but if you burn it off with a hot drink no girl is gonna want to take you out on a date again.”

“I’m not going on dates, Mary, and I have the personality to substitute my burned dick, even if I wanted to go out with someone,” he added from his bedroom, putting on a t-shirt. He then pulled on the sweatpants that lay on the ground next to the bed.

Remus was going to audition for the second guitar? That was… Sirius thought about last night again. _I thought you were gay_. The guy didn’t seem homophobic, if you could determine that by appearance, which, of course, was dumb to even think about. Maybe he was trying to get in his pants? Well, that certainly didn’t seem like the worst idea in the world. Who wouldn’t want to get with Sirius – long black hair, band tees, big combat boots – was that not every hipster’s dream…?

“Wanna go for a cig?” Mary asked standing in the doorway of his bedroom.

“Sure,” and they both went out on the small balcony.

-

“C’mon guys, introduce yourselves!” Lily said from the worn leather sofa of Marlene’s parents’ basement. There were five people, who wanted to audition for Henry’s place in the band, all now sitting on the floor that was clad in carpets of various sizes and shades of blue and purple.

“Hello, I’m James,” he said sitting on a large amp and resting his bass on one thigh. He nodded at the people on the floor and smiled welcomingly. Some of them uttered small ‘hey’s’. James cleared his throat, “I play bass.”

Marlene laughed, “Yes, Potter, we see that. Anyway, my name’s Marlene. Nice to see you all here. This is Mary.” She pointed at her and Mary waved her hand. “And Sirius.”

Sirius smiled. He was standing next to Mary who was behind the synth. Sirius’ favourite guitar was strapped over his back and one shoulder. He was tuning it, when the door to the basement creaked open and a head with messy hair poked through.

The guy smiled and waved at Mary walking inside and taking a place on the floor next to a girl with long blue dreadlocks.

“If everyone’s here, I think we can start,” Marlene continued. “Dorcas, you’re up first. Let’s do “Call me”.”

“Sure thing,” the girl winked at Marlene who was sitting behind the drum set. Sirius saw that it took Marlene a second to smile back. He was sure that there was a blush on the tops of her cheeks, but he couldn’t tell with the colourful fairy lights that were stretched all around the walls.

Sirius loved covering Blondie’s songs. His favourite had to be “One Way or Another”, very popular, catchy, great overall, but he would never tell Mary that, who’s favourite musician was in fact Blondie.

Dorcas was great with her guitar, she looked amazing playing it and sounded just as good, but she didn’t look at Sirius even once during the whole song. It wasn’t that Sirius wanted to be looked at. _Okay_ , maybe he did, but that wasn’t the point. He needed to be able to play _with_ the person, not just stand next to them. This just looked like them playing the same song at the same time, but chemistry on stage was just as important as the ability to play an instrument. Good musicians flirted with the audience, great musicians flirted with each other, where everyone could see them.

Sirius turned a bit towards the girl hoping she would get the right idea and they could harmonize, but she had her eyes concentrated on her fingers, she didn’t see anything beyond them.

The next person wasn’t much better, same with the other three that played after them. They were all decent musicians, but none of them had that spark. Sirius had never had the ‘spark’ with Henry either, but he had imagined that there might be someone out there, who was just like him on stage. Maybe that was just a fantasy, a false hope so to say.

The second to last was Remus. Sirius hadn’t looked at him since he came into the room, but now as he stood up and opened his case, Sirius couldn’t not see the perfectly polished Les Paul with a bullseye design and the thick white strap he slung over his head and one shoulder. It looked nearly as neat as Sirius’ own guitar and something inside Sirius fluttered at the sight of it. Well-kept musical instruments were his weakness.

Remus put the metallic cord in the amp and turned to Sirius who was standing nearest to him. “Same song?” he asked muffled by a thin green guitar pick between his lips.

“That would be fair, yeah, let’s do the same one,” James said from his place next to Remus.

“Ugh I’m gonna be sick if I hear the same “call me call me anytime” line even one more time!” Lily groaned, her legs now slung over the armrest of the brown leather sofa and head turned lying on her back on the seat. “Play my song,” she made eyes to James and Sirius could see that his best friend was slowly melting like ice cream on a hot summer day. “Pleeeeease!”

Mary laughed and Marlene shrugged, “We may as well.”

“You know “Rebel girl”, Remus?” Lily asked with her arms and legs in the air tying the shoelaces of her yellow Chuck Taylors.

“Feminist punk rockers form the nineties; do you really think I won’t know their most famous song?” Remus smirked and Lily smiled brightly at him lowering her legs and sitting up.

“Go on then, show me the best version of it!”

“That’s not fair, Lils, you’ll scare the boy away,” Marlene put in from her place behind the drum set.

“We have five others here anyway,” Sirius said looking at the people sitting on the colourful carpets.

Mary put a hand on Remus’ shoulder, “I think you’ll do just fine.”

“We’ll see, mind you, that’s Lily’s _favourite_ song” Sirius looked at Remus who gave him a nod, a small smile playing on his lips. _Of course_ he knew they were all teasing him.

_That girl thinks she's the queen of the neighbourhood_

_She's got the hottest trike in town_

_That girl, she holds her head up so high_

_I think I wanna be her best friend, yeah_

Sirius listened to Mary’s voice. It always made him excited and somehow managed to get his foul mood in the right place again, not that he was in a bad one right now. It was just that playing with people, who were not exactly playing _with_ him wasn’t the way he wanted to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

He didn’t expect anything different from Remus, not with everyone so far playing their guitars as an individual musicians and not a part of a group, but Sirius felt eyes on him. He looked to the right and Remus’ body was angled towards him. The corner of Remus’ mouth was slightly turned upwards in a small smirk. _This guy_ , Sirius thought, _well at least he’s been watching the previous performances_.

Sirius continued playing like before, but turned towards Remus. After a few seconds he looked up, the other man’s eyes were on him. He wasn’t watching his own fingers on the frets of his electric guitar. _He’s good_ , was Sirius’ first thought.

He couldn’t do anything, but smile a little. Remus eyes looked brown in the soft glow of the fairy lights, but Sirius wasn’t sure.

_Rebel girl, rebel girl_

_Rebel girl you are the queen of my world_

_Rebel girl, rebel girl_

_I know I wanna take you home_

_I wanna try on your clothes, uh_

Now Remus had a wide smile on his face. _God, he has such big teeth_ , was Sirius’ next thought.

_I really wanna be your best friend_

_Be my rebel girl_

Lily had joined Mary and was now shouting in the microphone. She always got hyped whenever this song was playing, especially if the Marauders were performing it.

Remus let the last chord’s sound fade. He was still smiling, although it was more controlled now. Just upturned corners of his mouth, eyes now dancing around the room. “Well, that was quite nice,” Lily said and put a hand on Remus’ shoulder.

He shrugged, “I like this song too. It has a way of making you feel… I don’t know, like there’s a revolution brewing or something.”

“Couldn’t put it better myself,” Lily looked content with the reply and sat back down on the couch. “Alice, if Remus did a different song than the others, you can choose something else too. I don’t mind Blondie, don’t get me wrong, but could you please not pick that first song?”

Mary nodded her head at a woman who looked like she might be in her late twenties sitting next to Dorcas on a small bright blue carpet, “But you can choose something else by her though!”

““One Way or Another” maybe? I don’t know anything else by her,” Alice answered getting up and pulling her guitar from a soft beige case.

Sirius already liked her.

When the song started Alice was already turned towards Sirius and they played like they had known each other for a long time. It felt familiar and safe. Alice had pretty light eyes and a soft smile on her face that was so inviting, Sirius wanted to take her out and get her a large cup of coffee.

“Okay guys, I’ll give you a call, when we’ve decided on who is gonna be our second guitar,” Lily said standing up from her place after the song had finished and Alice was putting her Stratocaster back inside the case. “You were all amazing and we will have a hard time choosing. Please keep your phones’ volume up, because I’ll ring only once!”

They started leaving through the poster clad door of the basement, some waving the band ‘goodbye’. Remus gave them all a small smile, waved to Mary and went out. Sirius waved back to Alice, who was the last to leave, and when she closed the door behind herself, announced, “I think we should choose Alice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter is finally here!! Sorry for the wait, exams have ended and I'm starting the second semester next week, but I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible (hopefully next week!!) :)  
> (btw you can find me on tumblr @loveutiltuesday)


End file.
